India vs England: James Anderson reveals the epic banter between Virat Kohli and him during the Edgbaston Test

England's ace bowler James Anderson spilt the beans on his on-field battle with Indian skipper Virat Kohli, revealing what the duo had said to each other during the first Test at Edgbaston.

Anderson dismissed Kohli four out of 10 times in the 2014 Test series.&nbsp | &nbspPhoto Credit:&nbspAP

India and England faced off in the first Test of their five-match Test series on Wednesday in Birmingham, with the hosts running out eventual winners by a 31-run margin. For the Indians, the stand-out performer was none other than captain Virat Kohli, as he scored a brilliant 149 in the first innings and then added 51 in the second.

With his performance, Kohli laid to rest the ghosts of 2014 where he had a tour to forget and scored just 134 runs in 10 innings in England. His tormentor-in-chief at the time was England's bowling spearhead James Anderson, who dismissed the right-hander four times in the series and always had Kohli's number whenever he came out to bat.

Their contest at Edgbaston was a treat to watch as well, with Anderson trying his best to get the better of the Indian skipper and Kohli showing great discipline and courage to hold his own against the Englishman. After the match, the 36-year-old wrote about their battle in Birmingham and paid rich tributes to Kohli, while also revealing details about the banter between the two on the pitch.

"There's a fiercely competitive rivalry between myself and Virat Kohli — but also enormous mutual respect," Anderson wrote in The Sun. "Kohli is ranked the world’s No 1 Test batsman after scoring 200 runs in the first Test and I’m the top-ranked bowler. I guess that’s top-of-the-range stuff and I certainly loved the battle with him at Edgbaston."

He added that he took heart in the fact that Kohli scored only 17 runs off his bowling and also suffered a number of near misses. "I felt good bowling to Virat and my plans worked well. I might have dismissed him a few times with some plays and misses plus a dropped catch. I’ve been told only 17 of his 149 runs in the first innings came off my bowling," he added.

Talking about the on-pitch banter between the two superstars, Anderson wrote, "The game was played in a good spirit and there’s a lot of respect both ways between myself and Virat. There was the odd smile when I bowled a good ball and the odd smile from him. I gave him a couple of freebies on his legs that he clipped for four and he said something like ‘That’s not like you, giving me freebies!’ It was teasing, really, leg-pulling. All in good spirit."

India and England now face off in the second Test at Lord's, which kicks off on Thursday. It remains to be seen whether Anderson will feature in the match or not, having earlier expressed concerns about the workload during the series and the importance of taking adequate rest.